Grassini bounces back to pitch Merrimack Post 98 past Nashua Post 124

NASHUA – Chris Shanahan needed to light a fire under Justin Grassini.

After the Merrimack Post 98 starter allowed two runs in the first inning against Nashua Post 124, and then walked the leadoff batter to open the second, Shanahan had someone start warming up in the bullpen.

Grassini got the message, retiring 15 of the next 16 batters he faced, and Merrimack was able to take advantage of some Nashua miscues to take a 4-2 win in American Legion senior baseball action at Daniel Webster College.

The win snapped a three-game losing skid for Merrimack (5-4), as Grassini pitched a complete game, striking out 11 while allowing two runs on five hits and two walks.

“He’s been efficient as anything,” Shanahan said. “He’s very smart and he just pounds the zone. He’s not afraid of anyone. He threw 102 pitches and it was an easy 102. He had football camp all weekend, so it probably took him a while to loosen up.”

Once Grassini was at full speed, Nashua (1-6)managed to get just two hits off him over the final eight innings, both coming from Ryan Penkala (3 for 4, double, two RBIs). Post 124 had just four base runners over that same stretch.

“He seemed to settle down and pitched pretty well,” Nashua coach Kevin Palanski said. “We want to run a little bit, but we didn’t have enough base runners. We didn’t play bad defensively, but we threw it to the wrong base when we shouldn’t have thrown it. Early in the game, it doesn’t seem like much, but when it turns out you only score two, it’s important.”

Larry Lassiter took the loss for Nashua despite allowing one earned run over eight innings, as he struck out six and allowed seven hits and walked four.

“It took us a while to get used to him,” Grassini said. “He didn’t pitch hard, but he had really good off-speed, and he was throwing it well. It just took a while for us to get used to it.”

Brendan Carter was 2 for 4, stole three bases and scored twice for Merrimack, while Grassini was also 2 for 4 with a run scored and Tyler Deneill drove in a run.

Josh Goulet and Pat McDonnell hit back-to-back singles with one out in the first inning for Nashua, and after Grassini got Sam McCarthy to fly out, Penkala followed with a two-run double to give Post 124 the early lead.

Owen Amigo flied out to center to end the inning, but Chase Blazak walked on four pitches to open the second. Merrimack catcher Ryan Slate when out to talk to Grassini, and Shanahan sent Logan Chaput to the bullpen to warm.

“He’s probably the most even kid I’ve coached,” Shanahan said. “Nothing rattles him, he’ll get upset that he gives up a hit, but it doesn’t faze him.

“I also know that if we can get in his head somehow on our side, so I got someone up in the bullpen, kind of saying ‘hey, if you’re not good,’ knowing that he’d get mad and wake him up.”

The message got through, as Grassini struck out the next two batters on six pitches and stabbed a hard grounder by Tyler Faulkner for the third out.

Slate got Post 98 on the board in the bottom of the inning, as he singled, stole second and went to third when the throw from McDonnell went into center field. When the throw from the outfield went by third, Slate got up and scored to make it 2-1.

In the fifth, Grassini and Carter hit back-to-back, one-out singles and Andrew Thibault walked to load the bases. Deneill hit a groundball to second, and Nashua got the force at second, but the throw to first went out of play, allowing two runs to score and give Merrimack a 3-2 lead.

Carter made it 4-2 in the seventh when he singled, stole second and third, and scored when the throw to third went into left field.

“One thing that we do do is take advantage of mistakes,” Shanahan said. “When other teams make mistakes, it seems that we somehow score a run or two. They’re a gritty bunch.”